729 deaths reported in Kerala, over 42,000 fresh cases in one day

After reporting more than 50,000 fresh COVID-19 cases daily for the last few days, Kerala on Monday logged 42,154 new infections which raised the caseload to 60,25,669.

The southern state had reported 51,570 cases a day ago.

Kerala on Monday also reported 729 deaths which raised the total fatalities in the state to 54,395, according to a government release.

Of the deaths, 10 were reported in the last 24 hours, 81 were those which occurred in the last few days but were not recorded due to late receipt of documents and 638 were designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court, the release said.

With 38,458 more people recovering from the virus since Sunday, the total recoveries reached 56,12,993.

However, as the number of recoveries were less than the new COVID-19 cases, the active cases rose to 3,57,552, the release said.

As many as 99,410 samples were tested in the last 24 hours.

Among the 14 districts, Ernakulam recorded the highest number of cases with 9,453, followed by Thrissur (6,177), Kozhikode (4,074), Thiruvananthapuram (3,271), Kottyam (2,840), Kollam (2,817), Palakkad (2,718), Malappuram (2,463) and Alappuzha (2,074).

The remaining districts recorded less than 2,000 cases with the least reported from Kasaragod with 844.

Of the new cases, 340 were health workers, 174 from outside the State and 38,406 infected through contact with the source of it not being clear in 3,234, the release said.

There are currently 5,37,909 people under surveillance in various districts, of whom 5,25,238 are in home or institutional quarantine and 12,637 in hospitals, the release said.